All Teen, All Country 'Idol' Final

In addition to "American Idol," producer Nigel Lythgoe is
producing a second current TV singing competition, "CMT's Next Superstar."

That show seeks to find a country music star, and as of next
week, "American Idol" will as well.

For the first time in 10 seasons, "American Idol" will be a
battle between a couple of teenage country singers - the dyed in the wool North Carolinian Scotty McReedy and Georgian Lauren Alaina, who started off in auditions trading
Aerosmith verses with Steven Tyler, has pretty much settled into an all country
repertoire as well.

Blame it on 95 million voters - a record for a non finale
show - who eliminated the one contestant who shined brightest the last couple
of weeks - Haley Reinhart, who rocked Led Zeppelin this week, Michael Jackson
last week and Lady Gaga the week before
that, was eliminated.

In a season of sincerity (and no Simon) on "Idol" maybe she
didn't fit in among the earnest, twangy teens, who shed real tears at their
homecomings, while Haley's running joke was that she and her bodyguard only
pretended to.

"This is the biggest platform anybody can ask for. And I
rocked it out and I had a blast. And this is only the beginning . I thank you
all so very much," she said before singing her final song, "Benny and the
Jets."

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3 Comments

I think the last few weeks Hayley really jumped it up, but she doesn't have the sweetness and purity about her like Lauren does. I'm glad that it's left between Scotty and Lauren for the finale. Hayley just seemed too sure and almost arrogant at times. Whereas Scotty and Lauren Have that honesty and modesty about them. Sorry Hayley.

TEAM HALEY's many power voters couldn't overcome the silly personality cult effect of the midwest and southern country hicks! So Tuesday's finale will be a snooze-fest and I wont waste my time watching it. Maybe the results show will have some interesting stuff, so I may check it on on my computer later in the evening. I hope Haley will have a great post-Idol career-- she deserves it!

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Roger Catlin is TV critic for the Hartford Courant and writes a daily column about what's on television called TV Eye. He is also on the board of the Television Critics Association. Before all of this, he was rock critic ... read more